Holder for knitting



March 8, 1955 A. AURAN 2,703,482

HOLDER FOR KNITTING Filed Feb. 11, 1954 E EEEEEI FIG-5 United States Patent HOLDER FOR KNITTING Albiu Auran, Priest River, Idaho Application February 11, 1954, Serial No. 409,753

Claims. (Cl. 66-4) This invention relates to a holder and hooks for use in making various knitted fabrics and articles by hand, particularly articles such as throw rugs which are frequently rectangular in shape.

In the present well-known method of knitting by hand, two needles are used and serve the dual purpose of holding the stitches comprising the unfinished edge of the unfinished fabric and at the same time draw the thread through a stitch in the unfinished edge to form a new stitch. Each new stitch is retained on the needle used to draw it through the existing stitch and the existing stitch is slipped off or dropped from the other needle. The operation of drawing a new stitch through an existing stitch and dropping the existing stitch is performed with respect to each successive stitch until all of the stitches in the unfinished edge are held on one needle. The operation is then reversed and the needle from which the stitches were dropped is used in forming and retaining a new row of stitches in a similar manner.

One difficulty of this operation is that the point of one of the needles must be inserted into a stitch which is already completely filled out by the body of the other needle as each stitch in the unfinished edge tightly encircles the body of the needle by which it is held. The thread must then be drawn back through the stretched stitch by the smooth tapering point of the needle. Maintaining the proper tension in the thread during the operation of forming new stitches is extremely difficult as both hands are engaged in holding and manipulating the needles. Therefore, it is very difficult to attain speed of operation and high quality of work.

Another undesirable feature lies in the fact that the size of the thread or material being used is limited if any proficiency of operation is anticipated.

I propose to avoid these difficulties by providing a device adapted to hold the unfinished edge of an unfinished piece of knitted fabric while additional stitches are added thereto and having a pair of hooks to be used in conjunction therewith, one for adding the additional stitches to the unfinished fabric and the other for removing the finished stitches from the holder. With my device, both speed of operation and high quality of the resultant article is attainable without long and tedious practice.

One object of my invention lies in the provision of a device which can be readily mastered by anyone, including a holder for securing an unfinished piece of knitted fabric and novel hooks for use in conjunction therewith for adding additional stitches and removing the finished stitches.

Another object of my invention lies in the provision of a holder which presents the unfinished stitches in convenient location for operation upon by means of the hooks.

Another object of my invention lies in the provision of a holder for holding the unfinished edge of an unfinished piece of knitted fabric in position with the stitches encircling pins and having unobstructed openings through which the proper hook may be inserted to facilitate drawing a new stitch therethrough.

Another object of the invention lies in the provision of a holder having the pins, about which the stitches are hooked, disposed in relationship one with another to provide stitches of exactly the same size and thus result in a smooth finished article.

The nature and advantages of my invention will appear more fully from the following description and the accom- 2,703,482 Patented Mar. 8, 1955 panying drawings wherein a preferred form of the invention is shown. It should be understood, however, that the drawings and description are illustrative only and are not intended to limit the invention except insofar as it is limited by the claims.

In the drawings:

Figure l is a perspective view of my improved holder;

Figure 2 is a plan view of the same;

Figure 3 is a transverse cross section taken through the holder;

Figure 4 is a fragmentary enlarged plan view showing the shaft with an unfinished portion of fabric secured thereto and associated with one of the hooks;

Figure 5 is a plan view of one hook; and

Figure 6 is a plan view of the second hook broken away.

Referring now in detail to the drawings, the holder is indicated in general by the numeral 10 and is shown to comprise an elongated base 11 which may be formed of a board or other suitable material and, as indicated in Figure 3, the base 11 is provided with a longitudinally extending ridge 12 along its front edge, the ridge being disposed below the horizontal median line of the base and defining a meeting joint for angularly disposed upper and lower, major and minor plane surfaces 13 and 14. A removable clamp 11 is carried by the base 11 and adapts the holder for securing to the marginal edge portion of an elevated surface such as a table. To the ends of the base 11 I provide vertically tiltable parallel arms 15 which are pivotally connected coaxially by means of screws or bolts 16 and have their free ends movable in an arc. At their outer ends, the arms 15 journal the ends of a shaft 17 so that it may be freely rotated and the shaft is disposed in parallel relation to the base 11 and at such a distance spaced from the pivot point 16 of the arms 15 that the shaft will contact the ridge 12 of the base 11 with the upper major plane surface 13 disposed tangentially relative to the periphery of the shaft 17 and the minor lower plane surface 14 disposed radially with relation to the shaft 17. The shaft 17 may be journaled in anyway found convenient such as by passing a bar 18 through the shaft and securing it by means of stud bolts 19 in the arms 15 or by journaling the shaft itself in the arms.

Longitudinally extending quinary rows of spaced pins 20 are carried by the shaft 17 and are substantially radially extending therefrom. The shaft 17 is provided with a plurality of spiral grooves 21 each of which extends the full length of the shaft 17 and passes intermediate a pair of pins 20 of one row and then between a pair of pins of an adjacent row, the second pair being one pin closer to one end of shaft 17 than the first pair.

In Figure 5 I have shown one of the hooks indicated in general by the numeral 23 as having a handle 24 and a shank 25 at the free end of which is provided a hook portion 26. The hook is employed as indicated in Figure 4 by passing the hook end along a selected one of the grooves 21, through a stitch hooked over a pin 20, whereupon the free end portion of the thread is hooked and drawn through the finished stitch and hooked over the pin 20 of the next adjacent row disposed circumferentially about the shaft 17. This action is continued for the length of the shaft 17 whereupon the shaft is raised and rotated and then returned with the ridge disposed intermediate adjacent rows of pins 20 and the same action repeated. This is continued for as long as necessary to provide a rug of a dimension desired at the end of which the loops may be secured in any convenient manner.

As the shaft 17 is rotated, the finished loops or stitches may be removed from the pins at the lower side of the device and the hook 27 is employed for this purpose by inserting the free end 28 between the stitch and the shaft 17 using the aforementioned grooves 21 and by applying twisting motion to the hook 27 the stitches are removed from the pins.

Having thus,described my invention, I claim:

1. A holder for use in hand knitting which comprises a base member adapted to be secured to the marginal edge portion of an elevated plane surface; said base member having a ridge extending longitudinally on its forward edge for the full length thereof and being disposedbelow the horizontal dimension of the member and constituting a joining line of an upper major plane surface and a lower minor plane surface disposed at substantially right angles to each other; a pair of vertically tiltable arms pivotally carried by the ends of the base member and movable in parallel vertical planes; an annular shaft journaled on said arms spaced from said pivoted ends and disposed to meet said ridge with said major plane surface tangentially arranged relative to the periphery of said shaft and said minor plane surface radially disposed with relation thereto; and said shaft having a plurality of substantially radially extending pins spaced longitudinally along said shaft and arranged in circumferentially spaced rows.

2. A holder for use in hand knitting which comprises a base member adapted to be secured to the marginal edge portion of an elevated plane surface; said base member having a ridge extending longitudinally on its forward edge for the full length thereof and being disposed below the horizontal median dimension of the member; a pair of vertically tiltable arms pivotally carried by the ends of the base member and movable in parallel vertical planes; an annular shaft journaled on said arms spaced from their ends pivotally carried by said base member and disposed to meet said ridge with its periphery in contact therewith; said shaft having a plurality of substantially radially extending pins spaced longitudinally along said shaft and arranged in circumferentially spaced rows.

3. A holder for use in hand knitting which comprises a rotatably supported annular shaft having a plurality of substantially radially extending pins spaced longitudinally along said shaft and arranged in circumferentially spaced rows and provided with a plurality of spirally arranged grooves in its periphery and extending midway between pairs of pins of one said row and then between pairs of pins in each successive row, the successive pairs being one pin closer to one end of said shaft; and a wedge shaped ridge extending the full length of the shaft and adapted to be disposed against the periphery thereof intermediate said rows of pins for precluding accidental rotation of said shaft.

4. A holder for use in hand knitting which comprises a base member having a ridge extending longitudinally on its forward edge for the full length thereof; an annular shaft disposed in parallel relation to said base member and movable in an are into and out of engagement with said ridge; and a plurality of substantially radially extending pins spaced along said shaft and arranged in circumferentially spaced rows.

5. The invention as defined in claim 4 wherein the pins are disposed in quinary rows.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,523,225 Michalinsky Sept. 19, 1950 

